Saturday, 16 July 2016

Into Oxford

Sunday 10th July; Oxford outskirts to Jericho

Last night’s mooring must be the quietest spot in Oxford! We left for Jericho after 9.30, where we moored easily as most of the boats had gone. Daughter Jen soon arrived after a bit of a hiccup where she had been directed to the river from the car park, rather than the canal, but with mobiles at the ready that was soon solved! Meg was ecstatic to see her young mistress!

After a cool drink we all walked into the city to get something nice for lunch from Pret a Manger and set off for the Thames Path. We crossed the river on the iron footbridge at Bossom’s Boatyard.

Moored near the bridge is a boat with a great name – but it says that on the blunt end too.

We walked upstream opposite Port Meadow, past Binsey, and ate our lunch watching a huge flock of greylags on the water and an egret on the far bank. We returned to the boat across Port Meadow, where Meg found the ball we had lost last night and insisted Dave throw it for her.

At the end of the footpath I bought an ice-cream from the man with an ice-cream cart. He has a boat, the Anapai, currently moored at the southernmost spot on the canal. As well as selling ice-creams in the afternoon, and bacon baps at the station in the morning, he rents out his boat to anyone who will pay for it. His claim to fame is a ‘Lewis’ episode** ‘The Rambling Boy’ where Lewis and Hathaway drag a girl through the side hatch to save her from a fire on board. Not only did they rename the boat, the actual filming was done in Uxbridge!

(** Non-UK readers, and those who don’t watch TV, may not be aware of the popular Inspector Morse detective dramas, which all take place in and around Oxford. Lewis was his detective-sergeant and after Morse’s death got promoted to his own series. You can follow Morse pub trails and other related routes around Oxford. The Boat in Thrupp is one of the locations.)

Anyway, we had a cup of tea when we got back to the boat and then Jen had to be off, as she didn’t want to get caught up in the Silverstone traffic on its way home after Lewis Hamilton's victory.

There is no TV reception in Jericho so we listened to Andy Murray’s Wimbledon victory and then the euro footy final on the radio.

As the sun set behind the railway, it shone low through the tree trunks to create lovely reflections on the hoardings opposite the moorings. They don’t really show in the photo but I like it so here it is.